Chapter 2: General Bandicoot
by Austin Miller
Summary: The second installment of the Crash Bandicoot story following the first game.


"Okay, Brio, I think it's time to fire up the Cortex Vortex one last time."

The machine began to hum and shake as 12 Lab Assistants walked into the room trying to contain the mighty koala. They struggled, walking him over to the Cortex Vortex. The closer he got, the more nervous he became. He began to violently thrash about, destroying many of the Lab Assistants trying to oppress him. Brio threw a switch, and more Lab Assistants began to pour into the room, finally overwhelming the koala. Cortex casually approached the beast with a long, sharp needle in his hands. The koala's eyes grew big, and he began to yell and shift uneasily in his seat.

Cortex walked up to the massive creature. "Are you ready to be the general of my army? Of course you aren't. But we'll take care of that," Cortex whispered in its ear. The koala cried out one last time before the chair began to rise up into the Vortex.

The koala quickly disappeared inside of the machine. Smoke and flashes of light filled the room, along with the uneasy cries of the large beast. Brio walked over to Cortex, who hadn't moved, looking up into the Cortex Vortex to see his work in progress."D-doctor, should we turn the machine off?"

"Yes, that would be best, Brio." Brio scurried over to the Vortex and typed in a combination of numbers. The machine clicked and slowly died down. The Screen next to the Vortex showed an image of a koala, along with '100% Complete' typed under it. The chair was lowered and the beast still screamed in agony. Cortex punctured the koala with his needle, putting him to sleep immediately. "Such a large creature; the Cortex Vortex's full effect will take longer against his immune system. Let's keep him unconscious for the remainder of the day." Brio nodded and motioned for the Lab Assistants. They picked up the large creature and walked out of the room.

Cortex walked over to his computer and pressed a button. The computer began to glow, and a feed of Cortex popped up, with a flashing red circle in the top right of the video."On this day in 1884, I have finally finished the Commandos sample project. I will approach the board with my sample tomorrow morning, and get the funding necessary for my retaking of the planet." He pressed the button again, and the computer shut itself off. He walked out of the room and down the hallway, where he passed by the koala's sleeping chamber, where the Lab Assistants were finally able to leave him. Brio walked out of the room as soon as Cortex passed by. Brio decided to follow him down the hallway.

"You know, Brio, I've noticed that this Cortex Vortex isn't as powerful as our first one. The other Commandos so far seem to be showing signs of personality. They are still loyal, but seem to be a little freer than the former Commandos. Are you seeing it too, Brio?"

Brio looked at Cortex. "It m-might just be a temporary side-effect d-doctor. These aren't p-p-people. They're animals."

Cortex nodded."Yes, I thought about that, Brio. But it seems like the personalities have developed since the rest of their character has been destroyed. The potaroo has created several shanks from his chamber and has attacked several Lab Assistants. The kangaroo, who suffered from the evolution deficiency, has also been violently attacking the Assistants. We've had to fit him with a straight jacket, because he would rip their limbs off. Just don't see the meeting with the board going very well."

Brio looked down. "W-we have to do well. There's n-no other place to get funds for such a p-p-project without being located. We need a C-Commando to really impress the board; a really powerful leader."

"You're right. You're very right. Maybe, the other problem is the sex of each of our Commandos; we should try both a male and female of the species we use. What species do we have on the islands?"

Thinking, Brio stopped immediately. "L-let's see. Koala, p-potaroo, crocodile, kangaroo, t-turtle, crab, d-d-dingo, rat, armadillo, and b-bandicoot."

Cortex stopped, too. "What the hell is a bandicoot?"

Cowering, Brio whimpered, "It's a s-small marsupial, about the size of the rats on t-t-this island. It's a pretty decent specimen: b-basic b-brain function, adaptable tissue construction, great speed and ag-g-gility, and a remarkable resistance to most attacks from p-predators."

"Yes, I think that's what we've been missing. We've been using animals that are less likely to be eaten in the wild! What we've needed all along was an animal on the menu of most animals on these islands! An animal that knows how to survive! An animal that can sense danger and work with a group! Yes, creating a male and female, with such easy-to-manipulate DNA, exactly how we want them to look! We won't make him big, like the koala, or as tall as the potaroo. We have to make him small and lean enough to force him to control the Commandos through leadership, not brute strength. Yes, the board will love this! My own General Bandicoot! Hurry,Brio! We have little time! Calibrate the Evolvo-Ray, and I'll go capture the bandicoots we need!" Cortex immediately ran out of the hallway and into the docking port. He began to climb the rope ladder to his blimp that hadn't been used since his world takeover.

Hurriedly he climbed, looking forward, never looking at how far he climbed, but always looking at his destination.

Getting on top of the blimp, he climbed down the hatch into the cockpit. The room gave him goosebumps; the last time this room had been used when he was patrolling the fallen cities with Brio and N. Gin. He and Brio created a fake blimp and crashed it into rocks on the tide, and watched the blimp burn as he and Brio watched from the clouds on their way to the islands. Cortex sat down at one of the computers that the Commandos had used to scan the area for reports. The screen was ready for code input; the space blinking over and over. He began to wonder whatever happened to N. Gin.

Dr. Nikolai Gin was a student that shared a dorm with both Brio and Cortex when they were students at Madame Amberly's Academy of Evil. N. Gin came from wealthy Russian parents who were key figures in the Cold War. As a child, he spent a lot of time in the missile factory that his parents ran. One day, a freak accident occurred, and Nikolai had a low-powered rocket crash into his head. Luckily, the speed and the thickness of Nikolai's head prevented the rocket from going out through the other side. The nuclear energy inside of the rocket, however, deteriorated half of his face, forcing his parents to create a metal shell to cover it up. Soviet doctors tried to remove the rocket several times, but to no avail; the nuclear warping of his head fused both the rocket and his head, making it a vital part of Nikolai's body.

Cortex fired up the engines and began to steer the blimp over to the Native Island, where he knew he'd find bandicoots. He put down the blimp on the beach, and climbed back out of the hatch. He had his laser gun out at his hip. He also pulled out of the blimp a hoverboard, a new, fragile prototype that he was trying out. He climbed on it and hovered down to the ground, where he was met by a group of charging, angry natives. Cortex, without any hesitation, shot a beam at the largest one, who exploded immediately. The other two natives, fascinated at his magic, fled from Cortex rapidly, crying out in their native language. Cortex laughed and continued his hunt. On his hoverboard, he quickly navigated through what the natives called the "Turtle Woods".

At the center of the forest, he found a large rock, with a particular burrow under it. Cortex blasted the rock with his laser gun, scaring twelve bandicoots out of the hole. Cortex pulled out a net and gathered them up, killing all but two males and two females with a small stun gun. The two surviving bandicoots began to panic. The female bandicoot gnawed through the net and escaped. Cortex tried to catch her, but she disappeared back into the forest. "Damn it," Cortex muttered to himself. He took the three bandicoots he had back with him to the blimp, and took off again for the castle.

At the castle, Brio had the Evolvo-Ray up and running, configured for the three bandicoots. He put the first one in immediately, which happened to be one of the male bandicoots. It squealed as it was strapped to the table for evolution. The other two were placed in a cage labeled 'bandicoot'. In their fear and panic, the two in the cage became very friendly with each other, sniffing at each other and burrowing into each other's fur as the noises roared and the lights flashed outside of the cage. They knew that no matter what happened, they'd be safe if they stayed together. Both bandicoots, because of the excitement, fell asleep quickly, nuzzled next to each other in the damp, dark cage.


End file.
